Dear Editor:
There are three basic necessities of life – food, clothing, and shelter. The easiest of these to provide is food and clothing through various organizations geared toward that need. Providing housing is much more difficult since it is costly and requires real estate. The ironic thing is that it is relatively easy to move people out of housing because a layoff or an illness can quickly change a person’s financial circumstances so that they can no longer pay the rent. Or maybe you are just in the way.
Landlords are in the “people business” and fill a very necessary role by providing shelter for tenants. Not everyone is lucky enough to be sufficiently secure financially to never worry about a roof over their heads. Landlords help society tremendously by providing, through renting, a home for people who don’t have the means to buy a house or apartment.
In Hoboken, we have seen our share of a transient population, but there are hundreds of tenants who have lived here for years that call Hoboken their permanent home. Losing one’s home can be catastrophic and frightening. Recently a friend had to move out of town after living here for 27 years because of financial problems. Another woman friend was told to leave her apartment after 20 years because the building she lived in was recently sold. But if you live in a building with four or more apartments, because of the protections of NJ State Law, you are not necessarily required to move. Most tenants don’t know this and are manipulated to leave through their ignorance of their rights.
Being a landlord is a serious people business. Getting rid of tenants is not like getting rid of an old lamp you don’t have any use for anymore. People are not disposable, so no landlord should take his responsibilities lightly. One is dealing with people’s lives and homes.
Just this past Sunday, Aug. 26, it was reported in the Jersey Journal that Stevens Institute of Technology wants to “boot” out all the existing tenants living in the 21 occupied apartments in the six buildings the school owns on Hudson Street between 6th and 7th streets. The tenants have 18 months to vacate their homes. Many are longtime tenants and at least one is 85 years old and has called her 6th Ward councilwoman about the issue. Seventeen of the apartments are occupied by Stevens employees and four house tenants not employed by the school. Five units are vacant. (Have they been warehousing?!!) The 26 units in the six buildings have been owned and managed by the Ravenswood Corporation, a subsidiary of Stevens, for the past 25 years. Stevens wants to evict the residents and convert the apartments into student housing by August, 2014.
It seems that tenants all over town are at risk of losing their homes. Many believe that tenants are expendable and have no regard for their lives or homes. Are you at risk?
Mary Ondrejka